Bob Sutton’s Johnny Cash Cadillac Defense
All the injuries on defense got me thinking about an old Johnny Cash song from 1976: “One Piece At A Time.” In the song, Cash tells the tale of a man who steals a Cadillac while working on an assembly line. He does it one piece at a time over a number of years. In the end, he has himself a free Cadi, but it’s all made of mismatched parts. Good description of where this Chiefs defense is. It’s not always pretty, but it runs, and it’s mostly functioning with “free” parts. By the end of the game on Sunday, Chiefs were down to two healthy guys on defense who’d begun the season as starters: Eric Berry and Ron Parker plus Derrick Johnson was limping around, Marcus Peters was playing hurt and Justin Houston just got back from InjuredReservee and was playing the second half with a shoulder injury.
The D-line has been the hardest hit. By the end of the game, Chiefs had 4 healthy DL. Those players include:
Rakeem Nunez Rochez: a guy Chiefs essentially got for free. They originally spent a 6th round pick on him, but his return to the roster this year came from the practice squad where any team could have grabbed him. He had six tackles on Sunday, five solo and two for a loss. That was good for fourth-most tackles on the team (behind Justin Houston, Eric Berry and DJ). Only Justin Houston had more tackles for a loss (5).
Kendell Reyes: Reyes is a former 2nd round pick (Chargers) who started the season with the Redskins. Chiefs signed him on the open market shortly after he was cut. Reyes had three tackles, all solo and one sack along with a pass defensed.
Jarvis Jenkins: Jenkins is another former 2nd round pick (Redskins), he started the season with the Jets, but they had a lot of depth on Dline so they ended up letting him go. Jenkins is a veteran, known to be a decent run stuffer, but not much of a pass rusher, he’s last on the depth chart, but still came up with two solo tackles on Sunday.
Chiefs secondary has been banged up all year and Peters, Steven Nelson and Phillip Gaines have all missed time. While Gaines struggled mightily on Sunday, a couple ‘free’ guys played pretty well:
Daniel Sorenson: Sorenson has become a household name for Chiefs fans. He makes big plays on special teams and timely hits on defense. Dirty Dan has gone from a guy fans wanted replaced to someone whose skill-set is valued and appreciated. Not bad for an UDFA.
Kenneth Acker: A former 6th round pick of the 49ers, Acker was acquired for a conditional 7th round pick. He’s had some hick-ups, but, on Sunday, he was clearly better than Gaines. Acker plays tight coverage and does a great job of playing the ball to avoid penalties. Acker had four tackles on Sunday all solo, one for a loss and two passes defensed. Not a bad performance for a guy who started the year 5th on the depth chart.
DJ White: White, a 6th round pick, has been hurt lately, but bears mentioning. He played really well early in the year. Chiefs gave him just three snaps on Sunday as he continues to recover from fracturing his hand.
Ron Parker: While Parker couldn’t be called free by any stretch of the imagination, Chiefs certainly got him that way. They also committed the time to move him from CB to S and it has paid off in a big way.
Steve Nelson: Nelson missed his first game this year on Sunday, but he’s been Chiefs 2nd best CB all year. Chiefs acquired him with a compensatory third round pick.
Chiefs have had a rough year at LB, losing Josh Mauga before the season and Justin March during the season. Their replacements played admirably:
Ramik Wilson: Wilson looked primed to follow the Nico Johnson path with the Chiefs, as he failed to make the 53-man roster, but he came back from the practice squad with a vengeance. Wilson had five tackles, two solo against the Broncos. The SILB spot isn’t necessarily supposed to wrack up a lot of hits, his main job is to fill gaps so Derrick Johnson can flow to the ball.
DJ Alexander: A compensatory 5th round pick, Alexander has made his name on special teams, but Sunday, Alexander got his first look as Derrick Johnson’s replacement. On four snaps, he logged four tackles, one for a loss. His only bad play, one where he appeared to lose gap discipline, was actually caused by an uncalled hold. Alexander’s performance on Sunday should give Chiefs the confidence to rest Johnson when he’s hurt.
Chiefs defense has allowed some big plays, and they haven’t been perfect by any stretch of the imagination. They have, however, shouldered the burden of winning games, and generally come up with stops when they were needed most. Peters, Houston and Berry are still expected to do much of the heavy lifting, but their supporting cast of miscellaneous parts have, thus far, proved to be more than adequate. Bob Sutton, Britt Reid, Al Harris and Gary Gibbs deserve a ton of credit for what they’ve accomplished this year with very limited resources.
And that’s just one of my Sizzling Takes!
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